Taking His Scholar Skills to UC Berkeley

Shotaro Yamaguchi is an amazing scholar, student and friend. Yamaguchi is a class of 2019 senior. He has participated in many academic teams, such as Math Field Day, Science Bowl, and the Science fair; making it to the state fair several times. Yamaguchi is on the student council; claiming the role of President for his own class of 2019. He is also an exceptional soccer player.
Yamaguchi started playing soccer as a young child; because he enjoyed the competitiveness, “I started when I was six years old. It was my first year playing in a local AYSO soccer team when a club coach asked me to play on his team, now known as LA Galaxy, where I enjoyed the competitive and fast-paced environment soccer gave me that I still enjoy today.” Yamaguchi’s position in soccer is usually midfielder, but switches to defensive roles from time to time. He says he has made many great memories through soccer, but his most memorable was during his freshman year stating, “It was my first high school goal as a freshman when I squeezed a shot between the keeper and the left goal post against South; I remember this really well not only because I’m not much of a goal scorer, but also because it was a fast-paced breakthrough; a play that brought confidence in me and what I can contribute to my team as the youngest player.” He is glad to move on from high school, but will always cherish his teammates who, even though are different each year, help him grow immensely. Yamaguchi says that when he was an underclassman, “I was able to mentally grow and learned so much through my supportive upperclassmen who really showed me the importance of being able to be both serious and goofy at the right situations.” He ends that, “Now, as a senior, I can reflect back on the years and say that I was really lucky to be surrounded with family-like teammates who truly cared for each other both on and off the field. Seeing and being able to play with a talented group of new underclassmen this year, I am really excited to see how they will play and hopefully dominate the field next year.” Yamaguchi is a supportive and talented athlete having claimed many achievements, such as, All-League First Team, Varsity soccer Captain for school, and for clubs: State Cup Champions, Coast Soccer League Champions, and NHB Cup Champions. He says that he wishes to continue playing soccer in college.
Not only is Yamaguchi an amazing athlete, he is also a great scholar. He applied for many colleges and states, “I have been accepted to: Cal Poly SLO, CSUB, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institution, University of San Francisco, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, UC Berkeley, UC Merced, UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, and UC Irvine.” However, he ultimately decided on being a student at Berkeley stating, “I will be attending UC Berkeley in the fall.” Yamaguchi states that he will miss being a Ridgeview student because of the memories he made with exceptional people that helped him grow. He says he would not be who he was today without them. “I would not be where I am today without all of the support I received from everyone throughout all these years and I appreciate my class very much; I loved every minute of working through the ups and downs with all the people I now consider my second family!” Yamaguchi says his experience being a Ridgeview student was memorable, and that he is glad he got to do things that will help him pursue what he wants to do in college, saying, “There are more things that I wanted to do that I couldn’t due to schedule restraints, but even then, I feel like I have truly lived out and been able to experience multiple activities that would be helpful for me when it comes to deciding what I specifically want to pursue and continue in college, and overall, it has simply been an amazing and memorable experience!”